


Affection

by chalahandra



Category: Bleach
Genre: Also Lost Families, Angst, Blood, Found Families, Gen, Implied Character Death, Modern AU, Prompt Fic, Sporadically Updated, Star Wars AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 05:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5696395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chalahandra/pseuds/chalahandra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of prompt-fics from tumblr and elsewhere, mainly focusing on Nanao Ise and Hitsugaya Toushirou.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Modern AU, Bad End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night out goes horribly wrong.

His blood's warm under her hands, seeping out from under what was once her nicest silk shirt. Tonight had once been nice, until Hollow hoodlums had slashed out of an alley, slicing Toushirou's chest to the bone.

Her son whimpers as the car hits a pothole, a bitten-off curse the only indication from the driver that they fucked up. Streetlights strobe, washing out their entwined forms even further. Pale, they're both so pale.

"Ssh, I'm right here. You're okay." It's a lie, and they know it - but it's all she can offer right now. How long has it been? How long do they have before shock and bloodloss steals away another life - another candleflame guttering out in the windstorm that is this blighted city.

Eighteen corners and two thousand, four hundred and twenty heartbeats later, the van judders to a halt, and Nanao is left blinking in the harsh glare of halogen spotlights as they pull Hitsugaya's small, still body away from her.

Summer's cold rains raise goosepimples on her arms, and she clutches herself in a hug. She doesn't even notice the blood - still liquid! still warm! - trickling down her skin, staining her bra. She could lose him.

And then she would have lost them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Ssh, I’m right here. You’re okay.”
> 
> This one courtesy of @saratogaroad! Turnabout is indeed fair play, even when it leaves me whining at my computer screen.


	2. Star Wars AU Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the battle's ended, something thought lost returns home.

It's not real. It _cannot_ be real. The Force is playing tricks on him. Darth Trugbild's toxin is still not out of his system, and Hitsugaya knows his body needs about another thirty hours of solid sleep, but this. This is just.

  
"I was at your _pyre_ \--" Nanao's face curves into a sad little smile. She looks as she did the day she died; dove-grey robes with a black leather belt, lightsaber clipped to the front of her left thigh. And yet.

  
There are no saber burns marring her face. Her left arm is _there_ , and unscarred. The Jedi Knight who found him, who advocated for his training despite his age, who threw herself in front of a Sith Lord's blade to save his life - she's standing right there in front of him. 

_There is no passion, there is serenity_. The maxim rings empty in his head, and Toushirou squeezes his eyes shut. Traitor tears escape anyway. He doesn't dare reach for the Force; what if she's not real?

  
"I thought you were dead." Silence.

  
Toushirou turns away, a sob halfway caught in his throat. It was never real. Just a hallucination. Just another lie he had to try and reconcile.

_Oh, padawan mine._ Strong arms fold around him, and the block on their training bond that he didn't even know was there melts away into nothing. "I'm so sorry."

  
He can't help the howl that rips free, knees buckling under the weight of his emotions. His Master bears his weight to the ground, folding him into the circle of her arms as if this was just a nightmare that she could scare away with her mere presence. Nanao is warm, and breathing, and _here_.

  
Her hands rub soothing circles on his back, and her presence in the Force tickles; like sunlight, like the feeling that run up his spine whenever she works gemstones with naught but her mind. It's _her_. Ice spirals out from them as he loses control, lacework frosting the grass around them.

  
He thought he'd lost her for good - they all had. They'd brought her body back from Korriban, along with the rest of their dead. She'd **burned**. Force above, they even found her lightsaber - and that _was_ hers. Trugbild couldn't have faked how the crystals within it resonated with the Force.

  
Even he wasn't that good. And Aizen had been one of their best, before he Fell.

  
Hitsugaya wants to know how, wants to ask **why** \- but the words refuse to come, sticking, shredded by each sobbing inhale. So he broadcasts it. Just drops his mental walls and Toushirou lets what he's feeling flow. Nanao inhales, hands tightening in his robes, pulling him in closer.  
  
For once, her proud little padawan doesn't fight it.

"If I said blood magic and Force illusions, would you be surprised?" Her voice is as watery and quavering as he feels; but there's a faint pulse of grim amusement in their bond, and he grimaces into her shoulder. The flesh amalgams animated by the blood of innocent civilians had been bad enough, but they'd borne the faces of the Lost Jedi.

  
And then, as if that wasn't enough already, Darth Trugbild had puppeted them expertly, copying their fighting styles almost down to the last individual quirk. But those illusions had faded after the Sith Lord was killed. _How?_ Physical words betraying him still, he sends it - less of a word, and more a confused jumble of questions.

  
His Master replies in kind. I _thought I was there with you. It was only after Gin cut me loose that I realised how he'd used me._ Blood on her hands, dripping down her fingers, silver hair and golden eyes glinting in the faint light of the stronghold. _It was meant to be a permanent link - when the meat puppet jumped in front of Trugbild, I was supposed to die too. Apparently Verrater had a change of heart about his old crechemate's fate._

  
"But you're here." It's barely a mumble against the crook of her neck, but she hears it. Nanao plants a kiss on his hair, runs a hand laden with healing energy down his back.

  
"I am. And I promise that I won't leave you. Not like that." He nods, tangling a hand in her sleeve. It's a childish gesture, but right now? Toushirou couldn't care less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was "I thought you were dead." with Nanao and Toushirou, courtesy of my best girl Silver (again)!
> 
> As for the AU? Let's just say I've had this one rolling around in my head for quite some time yet.


End file.
